More and more single-family homeowners are beginning to feel the unintended impacts of the Department of Planning and Developments misguided efforts to satisfy angry neighbors. Here’s another example from the Facebook feed.

Take my house, for example. Here’s an architect’s sketch of my house with the simplest, most cost-effective addition. Too tall for our 2,520 sf lot, per the new proposed regs. Our house was built in 1907, just like the one next door on a 1,860 sf lot. This legislation will impact many existing homes but I didn’t notice because the focus has been on buildable lot size and new construction.

 

Angry neighbors seem to be getting what they had wanted all along, a halt to change even if it comes at the expense of their neighbor in an already built house who wants to add on for a growing family. They have admitted that what we’ve been saying about the downzone is true, and that it is exactly what they want:

It’s true that the new height rules proposed by the DPD do also impact some existing homes on very small lots. However, this is only to keep the owners of those homes (and developers) from turning them into skinny, outrageously tall three-story structures [emphasis belongs to the angry neighbors].

So the decision is up to Councilmember Mike O’Brien (Email him); cave to angry neighbors who would deny a family more living space simply because they don’t want anyone to have three floors, or go back to discussing the 80 Percent Rule, a reasonable way of growing in single-family neighborhoods. Councilmember O’Brien should also avoid anything that takes away the ability of a family to grow in place.

The Council should engage in thoughtful consideration of how we grow into the future, not let angry neighbors turn them into the Harper Valley PTA. That would be outrageous.